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Round three of SLAR 2022 is fresh. The three league matches are to be played across three different days. The opening match is to be the final game of the season in Chile. Selknam are up against the reigning and undefeated Jaguares XV.
Test caps are spread across the Selknam line-up. There are Los Cóndores capped players from 1 to 14 with the one foreigner being Juan Zucarrino from Uruguay. Zucarrino will make his first SLAR start. The 14 starting Chileans are all names in consideration for the July’s Americas 2 showdown against the USA.
The replacements bench also has plenty of caps too and this is reflected in some of the decisions as to who starts against Los Jaguares XV. Salvador Lues and Vittorio Lastra are props with vital experience.
Martín Sigren, Raimundo Martínez, and Alfonso Escobar provide Selknam with a physical back-row. Regular captain, Ignacio Silva is back in the mix to feature from the bench. Center Domingo Saavedra will captain Selknam against Los Jaguares XV.
For a second match running, Lukas Carvallo will start ahead of Marcelo Torrealba at scrum-half. Carvallo will be partnered by Rodrigo Fernández in the halves. Los Garafulic‘s both play on the wings despite having been regulars at center and N8 repsectively in SLAR 2021.
New Pumas coach Micheal Cheika will have a number of men to watch in this fixture. Mayco Vivas is a case in point; he starts at loose head. The promising Pedro Rubiolo continues in the second-row, with Manuel Bernstein set to start out of position at flanker. Rubiolo has previously played both positions.
Sanitago Mare has put up his hand for consideration for the fly half position. His match-up against Rodrigo Fernández will be a feature of the contest. The Clermont-bound Juan Pablo Castro starts at inside center.
There are plenty of finishers for Los Jaguares XV. The back-three of Martín Bogado, Tomás Cubilla and Ignacio Mendy would rival Pumas back-three’s from decades gone by. Mendy and Mare won Bronze at the Tokyo Olympics.
Los Jaguares XV completed two dominant wins over Selknam in SLAR 2021. The Argentine side won 65-8 in Chile and 68-8 in Uruguay. These two outcomes ought to be taken in together with the circumstances of Selknam prioritizing other fixtures. In addition, it is of note that Selknam had Los Ceibos level at 13-13 in the SLAR 2020 fixture between the then Chilean and Argentine SLAR franchises.
TEAMS
SELKNAM
1 Javier Carrasco, 2 Tomás Dussaillant, 3 Matías Dittus, 4 Santiago Pedrero, 5 Augusto Sarmiento, 6 Martín Sigren, 7 Raimundo Martínez, 8 Alfonso Escobar, 9 Lukas Carvallo, 10 Rodrigo Fernández, 11 Matías Garafulic, 12 José Larenas, 13 Domingo Saavedra (capt.), 14 Nicolás Garafulic, 15 Juan Zuccarino
Replacements: 16 Franco Pechia, 17 Salvador Lues, 18 Vittorio Lastra, 19 Vicente Fernández, 20 Ignacio Silva, 21 Marcelo Torrealba, 22 Luca Strabucchi, 23 Santiago Edwards
JAGUARES XV
1 Mayco Vivas, 2 Andrea Panzarini, 3 Javier Coronel, 4 Pedro Rubiolo, 5 Rodrigo Fernández Criado, 6 Jerónimo Gómez Vara, 7 Manuel Bernstein, 8 Santiago Ruiz, 9 Rafael Iriate, 10 Santiago Mare, 11 Martín Bogado, 12 Juan Pablo Castro, 13 Agustín Segura, 14 Tomás Cubilla (capt.), 15 Ignacio Mendy
Replacements: 16 Bautista Bernasconi, 17 Santiago Pulella, 18 Lautaro Caro Saisi, 19 Eliseo Chiavassa, 20 Bautista Pedemonte, 21 Joaquín Pellandini, 22 Gerónimo Prisciantelli, 23 Iñaki Delguy
Date: Friday, March 25
Kickoff: 6:00pm (Montevideo, Buenos Aires, Brasília), 4:00pm (Bogotá)
Venue: Estadio San Carlos de Apoquindo, Santiago
Referee: Francisco González (Uruguay)
Assistant Referees: Felipe Balbontin; Martín Eusebio
Broadcast: ESPN America Latina, ESPN Brasil, STAR +
Historical Results:
2021-04-21 – Jaguares XV 68, Selknam 8 (Estadio Charrúa, Montevideo, Uruguay)
2021-03-25 – Selknam 65 , Jaguares XV 8 (Estadio Elías Figueroa, Valparaiso, Chile)
2020-03-14 – Selknam 16, Ceibos 32 (Estadio Nacional de Chile, Santiago, Chile)
